Demographics
US citizen
CA
Public high school, Junior
Male, Asian, Indian
Intended Major(s)
Astronautical or Aerospace or Mechanical Engineering
GPA, Rank, and Test Scores
- Unweighted HS GPA: 4.0
- Weighted HS GPA (incl. weighting system): 4.8 (out of 5.0)
- Class Rank: Top 5 probably (no official ranking)
- ACT/SAT Scores: SAT 1580 (800 Math, 780 R&W); PSAT 1510 (760 Math, 750 R&W)
- NHS member
Coursework
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In IB program
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9th grade
AP Bio (4)
Alg 2/Trig (Honors)
Spanish 2
World History (Honors)
Engineering
English (Honors)
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10th grade
Precalc (Honors)
AP Chem (4)
AP Euro (5)
Spanish 3
Engineering
English (Honors)
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11th grade (current grade)
AP Calc BC
AP Physics I
APUSH
Spanish 4 (Honors) - IB
IB English
Engineering
IB TOK
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12th grade
AP Physics II
AP Environmental Science
IB Math HL
IB History of the Americas
Engineering
IB English
Awards
- High school: Top engineering student, Top math student
- Scholar Athlete Award
Extracurriculars
- Started own company for 3D-printing and selling self-designed astrophotography components; also supplying to established astronomy dealer
- Royal Museums Greenwich Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition 2022 and 2021 (highly commended and shortlisted photos; also 1 of 3 contestants selected for short documentary)
- High school tennis JV team captain
- Volunteer: tennis coaching for children with intellectual or developmental differences through a non-profit
- Started Astronomy Club in high school
- Peer tutoring
- Applied for SSP 2023 (awaiting result)
- Completed Cal Poly EPIC in Summer 2021
- Competing in UCI Vital Link Energy Invitational (energy efficient car competition)
Essays/LORs/Other
Not done yet. LORs will be strong
Cost Constraints / Budget
Hoping for merit, not expecting financial aid
Schools
Putting together broad list including CA state schools, top engineering programs, but having a hard time figuring out safeties for his desired majors
I’m sure you know but the UCs and CSUs will not see his SAT score. For the UCs, calculate his UC GPA - GPA Calculator for the University of California – RogerHub Make sure you only uses his grades from summer after 9th grade to summer before 11th grade. You can look up which courses the UCs give an GPA bump by looking up his high school here. Courses with a star next them receive a GPA bump
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What is your budget? How much can you comfortably pay?
Which schools are already on your list?
Any other preferences such as location, size, activities, urban vs rural, sports, etc?
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Congrats. This is nearly every school in the country. Tell us more @DadOfJerseyGirl noted.
I mean if you want smaller or mid then a Col School of Mines or WPI type could make sense. Or a RHIT. For a large a CU Boulder. But maybe you hate cold or need big merit aid - hence the need to say more.
The most comfortable option would be a UC or a private with a good amount of merit to bring down the price. We have two more children heading to college in the next 4 years.
His dream school is MIT and we would try to make that work if he got in. Right now the list is huge with lots of UCs, cal poly, usc, caltech, umich, uiuc, uwash, colorado boulder, gtech, it austin and some ivys just to see what happens. The most important aspect for him would be going to an ABET accredited aerospace program so that narrows the list. However if he does mech engineering there are many more options.
He is expected to get NMF since his index score is 226 which is well above the cutoff for California. That makes USC a really good option too since they give alot of merit for that.
The only other thing he has expressed in terms of preferences is he doesnt like nyc and that he likes a bit more of a closed campus. He has lived in the same town in socal his whole life and is interested in trying someplace new. He also doesnt want to go to a super tiny school. I think the extreme cold of upstate new york might be hard as well.
Our biggest concern has been that even though he is a strong candidate for top schools the numbers make it hard to feel secure about anything and with such low acceptance rates he could easily get rejected from all of the above. The UCs have become very unpredictable now and of course its harder to get in to other states flagship schools. Does it make sense to apply to manh many schools when there seems to be some luck involved?
Based on the gpa calculator his capped uc gpa is 4.33 and weighted gpa is 4.79.
unweighted gpa is 4.0
Additional thoughts are appreciated!
Alabama Huntsville would be a safety and they have a great Aero program.
RPI would be a solid match and your son should get merit.
I’d add Purdue to the list too since the COA is lower, even without merit, although a reach these days and you do have a number of reach schools already.
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Alabama. Tulsa. UTD free or near free.
UAH - Huntsville is loaded with aero companies and will be $20k a year for you all in.
You may not love the name but you might like free or near free and these schools are loaded with smart kids because of this.
Arizona is strong in Aero but bases merit on gpa only. He’d get $32k off so about $25k a year.
USC is a half scholarship.
My son goes to Bama. General Dynamics offered him. He tried to negotiate based on other offers.
As they said where you go doesn’t matter. Where we place you location wise does. He declined their offer. The $ were fine but COL in the area high. He had several offers and will work in Aero elsewhere.
My son lived with two Ga Tech students for his internship in MS after 2nd year.
They all made the same.
Yep these schools don’t have the flash of the others and I know no one compares to MIT/Cal Tech and they are game changers.
But they also won’t care about NMF and as we’ve seen this year top kids are getting crushed even at lesser schools.
So consider these financial safeties that will love your NMF.
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I forgot to mention purdue and RPI are on the list as well!
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The deal that Alabama offers NMF is amazing but we are hesistant about the location. My wife lived in Alabama as a child and is not keen on any of the kids living in the deep south for a variety of reasons including a hope that he doesn’t settle down in that area long term. For that reason even gtech might come off the list. Just a thought but need to consider all aspects of this decision.
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Clarkson has an ABET accredited program and shoots way above their ranking in terms of outcomes. A safety for your student and they are very generous with merit awards and allowing stacking. Just very far from CA and not easy to get to.
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What is your actual budget in $/year?
Is $83k/year doable?
First of all, having a dream school is not a good idea. Better to have a balanced list of schools you love.
Second, would you have to take on a lot of debt or would it significantly impact your lifestyle, retirement savings or options for your other children? If yes, it’s not worth trying to make it work.
Very valid concern. Hence, create a balanced list of schools - not just the most prestigious/most rejective.
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Thanks! Will look at Clarkson
I would say this:
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What’s your budget? Don’t break it. I guess for schools like MIT and Cal Tech, I get it - they are in a class alone and maybe I put Princeton there - but in general, outcomes will be similar.
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You can’t go by when your wife was a kid - I mean, I get it - we all do that. But the world has changed. Bama is 60% OOS and my guess is for engineering even more. My son’s first year suitemate (they had their own bedrooms via the Honors College and shared a bathroom) - he wasn an NMF from Scottsdale. Both from the Northeast and West - there’s tons of kids. I was down yesterday to support my son in his first ever 1/2 marathon - he was in a team of four and included a hispanic and asian student of the four.
Different school (UAH) - but Huntsville, for example, is all about aerospace (the entire city) and is now, in many articles, listed as a top city to live and for grads. I don’t believe they have NMF - but given your son’s stats he’d be $16-$20K.
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That said, state politics are a real deal for some - who are saying they will avoid states like Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Ohio, etc. due to what they say are discriminatory or over reaching policies - and if that’s an issue for your son, then that’s something to think about.
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Tulsa, fine school and smaller, may have have the best NMF for schools that care. It’s ABET and has mechanical. You go for free.
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You reall do need a budget - and to include any other kids you have, retirement later, etc. Sure, some names are better than others on paper, but not if they entail debt - short of a few. Some schools, like a Purude, Arizona, Florida, ASU, etc. will be solid cost wise (under $50K). Others, like RPI and WPI, will likely come there with solid merit. To focus on pure aeor, an Embry Riddle (Arizona and Florida) and Florida Tech will also come in decently after merit. Those coming a tad above $50K might be CU, Va Tech, UMD types - and would be likely for your son (UMD a target, CU a safety, Va Tech a likely).
But I’d start with budgets - and an open mind (on past places you’ve lived in the past). I’d suggest you look at where students are from, curriculums, and outcomes. But if state politics are a concern, then study those as well. Typically we hear that from females but males can have concerns too of course.
College is a huge expense - but that’s by choice - especially when someone is like your son. Your task is to figure out - is it worth it?
I put a list of NMF schoools - of course, you’d need to check them to verify as the date of the article is recent but some of the data appears old. Tulsa isn’t on there so I put their link below - looks like UNL has a good deal too.
53 Colleges Offering Full Tuition Scholarships for National Merit Finalists (thecollegematchmaker.com)
National Merit Semifinalist Package - The University of Tulsa (utulsa.edu)
Why Huntsville Is the Best Place to Live in the U.S. in 2022-23 (usnews.com)
Huntsville AL ranked #1 10 Best Cities for STEM Workers - Livability
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Iowa State would also be a good safety that is highly regarded for Aerospace.
In terms of saying ‘if he gets into X school, we will make the finances work’…be careful with that. Give your kid a budget. If any school requires parental debt, it is unaffordable…even MIT. At every aerospace company out there, MIT grads work alongside grads from schools like Iowa State, Alabama, ASU, etc.
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I’ll think some more (especially once we get a desired budget figure), but one school I haven’t seen mentioned yet is the Embry-Riddle campus in Arizona. There are some Florida schools that could be good options, but if you’re looking to avoid the deep south, then those would be eliminated.
As your family thinks about its budget, I would think about what parameters you can give for each of your four kids. If S24 has you scrimping to send him to MIT or Cal Tech, then your other children would have the expectation that you would do the same for them if they were admitted to MIT or Cal Tech. If you weren’t able to do so, it could cause lots of family friction. If you did so, how would your life look like in terms of savings for retirement, etc? Essentially, all I’m recommending is that you think of a budget number that would be the same for all four of your kids. As an example, maybe you say that you are willing to pay for tuition, room & board at whatever the most expensive California public is, and that figure would increase over time unless a miracle happens and they do a tuition freeze. Then, all your kids have the same boundaries and know how much merit/financial aid is needed to get down to the budget. If kid #1 gets Wash U. down into that price range because he gets one of the very small # of merit scholarships, then he gets to go. But if kid #2 gets accepted to Wash U but without a similar level of scholarship, then the kid doesn’t get that as an option.
Basically, pick the boundaries you want to pick, but I’d strongly urge you to have the same boundaries for each of your kids.
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Price limit? At list price, private colleges can be up to a little more than $80k per year, while in-state UCs are close to $40k per year and in-state CSUs can be around $30k per year.
I wish we could say $80K - and OP will have national merit so will get a better deal if in but another poster was talking about USC yesterday. $80K is for the birds!!
We now start with 9’s.
Cost and Financial Aid | USC Undergraduate Admission
Some schools may not have a standalone AE program (or have one without ABET accreditation), but ME with AE electives can lead to work in aerospace, while being less limiting with other employers.
Among California publics:
- ABET-accredited AE: CPSLO, CPP, CSULB, UCD, UCI, UCLA, UCSD, SJSU
- ABET-accredited ME: CPSLO, CPP, CSUMA*, CSUC, CSUFresno, CSUFullerton, CSULB, CSULA, CSUN, CSUSac, UCB, UCD, UCI, UCLA, UCM, UCR, UCSD, UCSB, SDSU, SFSU, SJSU
*CSUMA’s focus is on ships, so aerospace is unlikely to be much of a focus area there.
You and the student may want to check course catalogs and faculty rosters to see if aerospace is present as a focus area within ME departments where there is not also an AE major.
Wouldn’t nearby AAMU (with an ME major) be a full ride?
However, both AAMU and UAH may, by their existence, be reminders of unpleasant deep south history and its continuing legacy.
Okay, having given it a little more thought, these are some schools I would have your son research some more.
In-State California publics: I realize that the UCs seem unpredictable for many, but I’d be shocked beyond belief if your son didn’t have multiple options from this list:
- Cal Poly – San Luis Obispo
- Cal Poly – Pomona
- Cal State – Long Beach
- San Diego State
- San Jose State
- UC – Davis
- UC – Irvine
- UCLA
- UC – San Diego
Your son’s hoping to experience something new… These are some out-of-state publics where I think there’s a chance of having the costs be the equivalent (or below) those of a UC.
- New Mexico State
- U. of Arizona
- U. of Kansas
- Iowa State
- Missouri Science & Technology
- U. of Cincinnati (OH) – GE still builds its jet engines in this area
- U. of Maryland - could possibly be competitive for the Banneker Key, their most elite scholarship
- U. of Minnesota – Twin Cities
- Virginia Tech
These are some private schools that are smaller to medium in size where I think your son could receive generous merit aid. For Case Western, your son would have to show lots of interest. They’re not interested in being a safety for MIT or similar. But if they think your son is legitimately interested, I could see them being very generous.
- Clarkson (NY)
- Embry Riddle (AZ for your kid)…already mentioned
- Illinois Institute of Technology
- Worcester Polytechnic (MA)
- Case Western (OH)
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